Four-year-old Norfolk terrier, Twix, went missing in Spratton last Friday afternoon while its owner, Rebecca Honeywell-Ward, from York, was visiting her parents in the village.

Mrs Honeywell-Ward, aged 27, also owns Twix's five puppies – named Toast, Marmite, Chips, Sausage and Beans – and their mother, Biscuit, and all of them were clearly upset by the disappearance.

But on Monday, Mrs Honeywell-Ward went walking around the area on Monday with her uncle, Dave Newbery, from Daventry.

He owns one of Twix's older puppies, named Scamp, and when the one-year-old pooch examined a hole in a field, he started barking excitedly. Mrs Honeywell-Ward said: "We couldn't see anything so we started walking away, but Scamp kept barking.

"And if you actually stuck your head down the hole, you could see him.

"He was trapped upside down with a root across his throat. It took us half an hour to dig him out."

She said the hole was in a field which backed on to her parents' house, and that they had walked past the site several times while looking for Twix because they knew the dogs liked chasing rabbits in that area, yet they had not seen or heard any signs of him.

She added: "We are very pleased he is back, we didn't think we would see him again.

"I don't think he would have lasted much longer.

"He had earth in his mouth and no food or water. He was very tired."